Thursday, August 13, 2009

NG editor Susan Welchman selects a handful of excellent professional, and non professional photos from the week. There are some amazing photographs, as well as some awesome stories.

Like this one from Melissa Brandts

August 7, 2009 : My husband and I were exploring Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park, Canada, when we stopped for a timed picture of the two of us. We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intrigued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot! A once in a lifetime moment! We were laughing about this little guy for days!

Or this one from Peter Allinson

August 11, 2009 : Andrew saved this young sperm whale's life when some false killer whales attacked it. The sperm whale, now a seven-year-old adolescent male, is called Scar. I was lucky enough to witness the two of them playing together. Scar has been known to come to Andrew when called. He has been very gentle with people in the water with him, but is reaching the time when he will leave his pod and travel to other locations, looking for food and a mate.

Monday night at about 7pm we got a call from our friend Ryan. He had 2 tickets to that nights Depeche Mode concert! Trev and I were all over it! We quickly threw on some depressing clothes and headed out into the dreary seattle weather to see what turned out to be an awesome show!

Anyways... sort of reminded me of this awesome site that my boss Vicky sent around the office a few months ago. If you love Goths... like I do... check it out. http://www.gothsinhotweather.com/

A few years ago I was on a flight home from Miami. My brother Sam and I had just gone on a carribean cruise with my grandparents (Papa Jim and Grandma Ida) celebrating Sammy's high school graduation. Anyways... by chance I was sitting next to a young couple who informed me that they too were flying home from a carribean cruise. We got to talking and they told me that next weekend they were getting married. I couldn't believe this when they told me. I thought for sure that there must have been a time conflict and they were forced to take their honeymoon before the wedding, but that wasn't it at all. They simply wanted some time to relax before their big day. Genius! Turns out they had planned on taking their honeymoon a few months after the wedding so that they could fully enjoy the time with their friends and family.

This has always stuck with me and when it was time to plan our wedding I of course wanted to do a pre wedding relaxation vacation, but of course realistically we couldn't afford to do anything like a Carribean cruise. So instead, Trev and I along with a handful of our friends headed up to Leavenworth a few days early so that we could get some relaxation in before the big day. Thursday before the wedding we did exactly that. A 4 hour float down the Icicle, which turns into the Wenatchee, river. We had so much fun that we decided to do it with even more of our friends and family the day after the wedding. Here are a few pics from our mini relaxation vacation.

To every bride and groom out there! This is the best advice I will ever give you.... during your wedding week take time to relax and HAVE FUN with the people who love you!